Reducing The Butter Won’t Harm The Flavor

If you’re trying to cut back on fat and empty calories, start by yellow-flagging most of the recipes in your collection that call for melted butter.

You can greatly reduce the amount of butter - or eliminate it altogether- in most savory dishes without damaging the flavor. For example, we shaved off 264 calories and 26 grams of fat off a standard recipe for Parmesan Chicken simply by omitting the butter and making a few other minor changes.

The first step: Trim the chicken to remove any visible fat. Next, switch from regular baking mix to a reduced-fat baking mix and reduce the amount of cheese from 1/3 cup to 1/4-cup. Then switch from evaporated whole milk to evaporated skim milk, which contains just a trace of fat.

The new recipe also cut the amount of salt in half to reduce the sodium content. And, in place of melted butter, the new recipe gets its richness from a light drizzling of olive oil, which is significantly lower in saturated fat than butter and contains no cholesterol.

Light Parmesan Chicken forms a delicious, golden-brown crunchy coating as the chicken bakes. The chicken inside is moist and tender. Best of all, the streamlined recipe gets just 21 percent of its calories from fat.

Light Chicken Parmesan

Corn-oil cooking spray

12 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 cup reduced-fat, all-purpose baking mix

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon celery salt

1/4 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 cup evaporated skim milk

1 teaspoon olive oil

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly coat a large baking dish with cooking spray. Trim all visible fat from the chicken breasts.

Combine the reduced-fat baking mix, cheese and seasonings in a shallow bowl or plate. Place the evaporated skim milk in another bowl. Dip the chicken in the evaporated skim milk, then roll thoroughly in the baking mix. Fold the thin, pointed ends of the chicken under the thick ends to ensure even cooking and place in the prepared pan.

Drizzle any remaining evaporated skim milk (there should be about 4 tablespoons) over the chicken. Drizzle a little of the olive oil over the chicken. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the chicken is firm to the touch but still juicy.

Yield: 12 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 301 calories, 7 grams fat (21 percent fat calories), 47 grams protein, 10 grams carbohydrate, 123 milligrams cholesterol, 327 milligrams sodium.

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